Week 21 2 Chronicles 22
Chronicles gives me some useful info about what was behind Ahaziah’s decision-making: he followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. Kings agrees that the reason Ahaziah was attracted to evil was because he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab. (I just saw that Ahaziah’s dad (Jehoram) was married to Ahab’s daughter and so Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab…He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.) Anyway getting back to Ahaziah: after the death of Jehoram, members of Ahab’s family became Ahaziah’s advisors, and they led him to ruin.
Chronicles & Kings don’t give a detailed list of Ahaziah’s actions. What stands out is that he was joined-at-the-hip with Ahab and that turned out to be a fatal mistake.
In my mind Ahaziah is going to be ranked on the low-side of my Kings Scale. He was definitely bad. Just exactly how bad is hard to say because he was a weak & indecisive guy who was influenced – heavily and negatively – by his family. But I think it’s safe to say that eventually Ahaziah developed his own personal preference and tastes for evil.
Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 22:3-4 2 Kings 8:27 2 Chronicles 21:6 22:4 & 7 (NLT). Ahaziah was assassinated and only got a decent burial because his grandpa – Jehoshaphat – was a man who sought the Lord with all his heart (2 Chronicles 22:9 NLT)